El Paso mayoral candidate profile: Veronica Carbajal

NAME:   Veronica Carbajal

OFFICE YOU SEEK:  Mayor of El Paso

AGE: 44

OCCUPATION: Attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.

EDUCATION: Burges High School, Class of 1994; Brown University, Class of 1998, Environmental Studies (Honors, B.A.), Ethnic Studies (B.A.); University of Texas School of Law, Class of 2004.

• Number-one campaign focus?

No more business as usual.  We have a city government that prioritizes
private interests over people and neighborhoods.  We have a city government that is much more comfortable engaging with millionaires than it is with every day El Pasoans.  This disconnection between most of council, the mayor, City Manager and City Attorney permeates the majority of their decisions, where the public’s input, needs and expertise are disregarded and rarely funded.  The City pretends we have given them a blank check and permission to tune us out.  We need to refocus our budget on essential services dictated by the needs of working El Pasoans and their neighborhoods and recognize that the public pays a hefty prize for so-called public-private partnerships.  Further, El Paso must redefine what it means to grow.  We cannot sacrifice our environment, destroy our historic neighborhoods, and forget about our most vulnerable residents in the name of progress.  Not only is it morally wrong, it is incredibly short-sighted and limits our economic development.

• What sets you apart from your opponents?

I am the only environmentalist, lawyer and fronteriza (I grew up commuting from Juarez to El Paso) in the race. I have never worked for the City or held political office. I have sued the City four times and have an insider’s look as to how the City litigates issues and responds to
community concerns. In addition, if elected, I will be the first Latina mayor in our city’s history.

• Relevant experience that qualifies you for the position you seek?

Climate change is here.  We need a leader who understands environmental concepts and has a congruent set of plans for fighting rising temperatures, scarcity of water, and air pollution that is worsening. As both a litigator and manager, I’ve had the honor of working directly with clients, members of the community and legal aid staff.  TRLA is organized by teams, which helps attorneys and staff become experts in a given area of the law, while also providing opportunities to practice in other areas. As a team manager and Group Coordinator, I have hired, supervised and trained staff.  I have developed plans and have actually implemented them, revising them to best suit the needs of our community. I have also implemented intake and direct
service delivery systems for grants and programs, mostly dealing with
responses to crisis, including natural disasters, the economic recession of
2009, the mass shooting and the pandemic.  While I have developed expertise in a number of areas, I have also learned to respond to the community’s needs and have taken on novel cases and issues.  During the last 20 plus years, I have developed relationships with community experts, including City employees.   I don’t lead from the top down.  I have learned to listen to those most impacted by the issue and those tasked with addressing it most directly.  My management style is to lead by example, be hands-on, inspire, and provide resources to get the job done.

• If you had the chance to revoke one ordinance in El Paso immediately upon taking office, which one would it be?

I am not sure which ordinance I would strike down. However, I would
immediately amend the local Fair Housing ordinance to prohibit
discrimination based on LGBTQ+ identity.

• In what ways is City government on the right track, and in what ways does it need to change course?

This question has to be answered on a department by department basis.  In general, we know there are two El Pasos. One gets waivers to pollute. One gets waivers to build without paying impact fees or for sidewalks and street repairs. One gets waivers to have large parties in the middle of the pandemic. The other El Paso pays the price.  We know this needs to change. El Pasoans cannot bear the brunt of additional public debt or pollution for the benefit of wealthy private interests.

• What steps can you or the city council take to increase transparency and the public's understanding about what's going on in the city?

The city should adopt some of the measures taken during COVID, such as
allowing members of the public to participate during public comment by
phone.  We should also allow public comment in writing, to be shared on the City’s website.  Currently, certain members of our community are allowed to send in their letters to be read into the public comments while the rest of us have to wait to speak for 3 minutes.  Reporters and the public should not have to resort to waiting for opinions from the Attorney General’s office because the City Attorney does not want to comply with open records requests.  This lack of transparency is particularly objectionable because it is primarily used to benefit private interests. As an attorney I will ensure that the use of executive sessions is not overused or abused.  I am committed to making our City government more accessible and more transparent. I have been an advocate for the City’s transparency since 2006, when my colleagues and I sued over the Mowad floods - flooding which my clients suspected was caused by development and highway projects upstream that failed to consider their neighborhood’s impact. The City was telling FEMA the neighborhood buyout was voluntary, but telling the homeowners that it was not and prohibiting the reconnection of utilities, making it nearly impossible for homeowners to live in their homes.  My colleagues and I have also litigated the 2012 Quality of Life Bond which the City manipulated to
convince voters to agree to a sports arena hidden in the word
“entertainment.”  Taxpayers should not have to sue their local government to demand transparency.

• Are you in favor or opposed to the construction of the downtown arena in the Duranguito District?

I am opposed to the Downtown Arena.  I will not support the Multipurpose Performing Arts and Entertainment Center if the project has a sports arena component.  Voters approved a $228 million bond.  City council approved the allotment of those funds.  While the courts have allowed the City to use the word “entertainment” to include a sports component, the sports arena is not required since sports was not actually mentioned in the ordinance or the bond language.  Currently, the City has allotted $180 million to the sports arena, leaving only $48 million to the other signature projects: the Children’s Museum and Mexican American Cultural Center, as well as a dozen library improvement projects.  I would eliminate the sports arena component and allot that money to the Children’s Museum, a stand alone Mexican American Cultural Center, and repairs and improvements to the Abraham
Chavez Theater and the 100,000 square foot Convention Center, which has not been used for years.  The sports arena as planned is for a D-league basketball team with only 2,000 more seats than the Don Haskins.  Based on the litigation that I have been involved with and my review of the City’s exhibits and witnesses, it is clear that the sports arena will be yet another project that enriches private interests (the owners of the team and concessions) at the expense of the public.  We simply will not garner the time of entertainment that is promised due to the size of the facility. Moreover, we cannot destroy a Mexican and Latinx historic neighborhood and displace the Mexican and Mexican American elders that embody our history at a time when the country and the world need to celebrate such voices as we combat systemic racism.

• Do you think local health and city officials have responded to the coronavirus pandemic properly?

No.  I do not think local health and city officials have responded to the
coronavirus pandemic properly.  We have the second highest rate of COVID cases in the top 30 largest cities in the country.  The mayor has actually granted waivers for large parties.  The City has failed to meet COVID challenges and has prioritized reopening the economy to saving lives.  We should have helped businesses do more to survive financially rather than reopen with little guidance and enforcement, specifically when it comes to bars.  If I was Mayor, would have used the $119 million CARES Act funds (of which the City has only spent $15 million in 5 months) to effectively and quickly inform; test; trace; protect the workers and occupants of truly essential and high-risk businesses and spaces (e.g. nursing homes, jails, immigration detention centers, and mental health centers); enforce safety measures and shut down non-compliant private businesses; and ensure that renters and small business owners can access financial and other support. I would address clusters, particularly in the aforementioned spaces, which accounted for 15% of the cases on July 21st and 11% on September 14th.

• Are you in favor of diverting some police department funding, reallocating it toward local social programs?

I am in favor of solving community problems at the root instead of policing and punishing them, as this will help our police officers and our
community.  On June 16, 2020, I was the first mayoral candidate in El Paso to call for the transformation of the EPPD.  We must stop policing and punishing societal problems like mental health,  addiction, homelessness and domestic violence and begin to find long-lasting solutions. This will help the public as well as officers who are not specialized in dealing with these issues.  We must refocus EPPD and realign its budget and resources with the things all El Pasoans need to truly be safe.  We must also remember that every El Pasoan deserves a quick response to their emergency calls and every El Pasoan deserves to feel safe in the presence of their police officers.  I believe that these two goals can be met if we adopt community policing models, fund other community services better, implement anti-racist policies and get serious about implementing reforms (such as the 8 Can’t Wait), holding police officers and their leaders accountable, and have a transparent disciplinary matrix.  It is immoral and fiscally irresponsible to continue to pay out legal defense bills for officers who use excessive force.  The case against the City of El Paso by the family of Erik Salas-Sanchez exemplifies why we must transform the police department immediately.  U.S. District Judge Phillip Martinez recently issued a 132-page opinion in this case that outlines the many failures by the EPPD. Further, we must properly staff and fund the Crisis Intervention Team.  In a very recent case, EPPD showed up without a member of CIT and spent a minute assessing a young woman’s lethality.  Despite her mother’s insistence that they take her to a mental health facility, they did not and she committed suicide that night.  We must transform our police department.  Public safety is the most expensive part of our general fund and the public and officers deserve a better system.